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Cambridge University Press is set to create a dedicated Open Access unit to give the publisher more “energy” and “focus” in the sector.
Mandy Hill, CUP’s new m.d. of Academic Publishing, told The Bookseller that the unit will be launched in the next few weeks and will consist of a “head of open and data publishing” and a small team, covering STM and humanities and social sciences disciplines.
Hill said: “OA is clearly a really important issue. We have appointed a new head of Open Access, whose name I can’t disclose yet, to give us the focus we need in that area. It will give us more energy, particularly in journals on the STM side and also on the HSS side."
She added: "My view is that we need to be market-driven. It is not for the publisher to say ‘this is how it should work’. It is really exciting and OA needs to be seen as an opportunity.”
Hill joined CUP five weeks ago after 15 years at Oxford University Press, succeeding Richard Fisher who retired after 30 years with the company.
Calling OA a “game-changer for the industry", she said: "There is an awful lot going on at the moment that is making the industry wake up and focus on what the market needs. The whole Open Access debate has made us focus more on what readers needs and that is a good thing for the industry generally.”
She said that part of her remit was transitioning CUP to be a “truly digital publisher”. She added: “How do we really back digital? How do we transition from being a print-based publisher to being a truly digital publisher? Digital shouldn’t be an add-on to our traditional publishing and it shouldn’t just be a digital version of the print book. We are working with authors to help them think in a different way when it comes to digital and look at different opportunities.”